May 05, 2017

The project will also consist of replacing piping below Main Street on the west side of the road, work on two side streets and will also include some new fire hydrants and services. The services will be replaced as needed depending on their condition, according to Jon Brosz of Brosz Engineering.

The work will stretch from Windy’s, and head north all the way to Northwest Tire, and include two side streets. The project could start as early as Monday, and is tentatively scheduled to be completed in about two-and-a-half months. The first completion date is scheduled for July 4 which would include paving and concrete on the intersection of 1st Street NE down to the intersection of 3rd Avenue by Windy’s. The second completion date would be to finish the two side streets by July 28.

A public meeting was held to discuss the traffic disruption this project will create. Business owners and community members gathered at Bowman City Hall to hear from Brosz and JK Excavation about the process.

“There’s no way around it,” Brosz said. “When you’re doing a Main Street project, there is going to be times when you’re without water.”

The project will begin as crews mill the road in preparation. The milling will cause traffic on the west side of the street to be halted on the entire stretch of the project, because the crews will get started and work in one fell swoop. But shortly after that the milled up material will be packed down and traffic can resume.

Audience members gathered to listen to details on the Main Street project at Bowman City Hall. (Pioneer Photo by Cole Benz)

The work will be done block by block, so after the initial milling, traffic delays will only occur in smaller spurts as the project progresses down Main Street.

The city commission did agree to use quick dry material at an earlier regular commission meeting in April. This will allow parking to resume earlier when the final material is laid at the end of the project.

Another facet to the project is fixing some indentations of the road due to parked cars over the years. It is kind of a ‘two-birds-with-one-stone’ project, because you don’t want to put poor material over new piping. So while they are replacing portions of the water system, the west side of the road should be in better condition when it’s completed. The road will be replaced 22 feet from the curb out towards the middle of the road, so not quite half way. To repave the entirety of Main Street Brosz said they estimated $750,000, an added cost of $410,000 to the project.

“We’re doing just the excavation limits due to budget reasons,” he said.

The project won’t cost property owners anything, according to Lynn James, Bowman City Commission President said.

“We have surge funding for this,” she said to the crowd at the public meeting. “This is the final project that we will do with surge funding.”

The overall cost of the project, listed on the notice of awards, was tallied at $875,862.00.